Cheerleaders offer support to a Yorkshire family after devastating fire

By Alice Gerard

Senior Contributing Writer

The Grand Island High School football team and cheerleaders traveled to the Cattaraugus town of Yorkshire on Sept. 7 for their first game of the season. As they traveled to play the Pioneer Panthers, they had more than football on their minds.

Just a day earlier, a fatal house fire on Creek Road in Yorkshire claimed four lives. A Pioneer senior, James Cook, 18, the sole survivor, lost two sisters, ages 12 and 15, and his mother in the fire. A fourth victim has not yet been identified.

According to Madison McGowan, a Grand Island High School senior and student council president who served as student ambassador at the Sept. 9 Board of Education meeting held at Eco Island, “In a heartwarming development, the varsity girls’ cheerleaders made a generous donation to a senior … at Pioneer. Their support was deeply appreciated and has provided much-needed comfort during this difficult time.”

“We got this email from Athletic Director Chris Edwards from Pioneer Central School District,” said Dr. Brian Graham, superintendent of the Grand Island Central School District. “He wrote to our athletic director, Brett Banker, saying, ‘Your cheerleaders brought a cash donation and flowers to support our family that lost everything.’ I was amazed to hear from our cheer coaches about this incredibly thoughtful gift.”

A posting at the Pioneer Central School District’s Facebook page indicated the cheerleaders raised $300 for the Cook family. The poster included a picture of the cheerleading team and described the donation as a “class act.”

“He added that the football players played a very resilient game,” Graham said. “They did end up losing. As the athletic director from Pioneer walked around the whole campus during the football game, he said, ‘I walked the team to the locker room. After the game, the young men from Grand Island were beyond respectful and polite.’

“The most impressive part was, after the team left, he went in to check the locker rooms, and they were spotless. Just nice accolades from the Pioneer athletic director and a testament to our coaches and our leaders throughout the district and our kids, who were so thoughtful to raise money for that family in Pioneer.”